Kampong Chicken Rice

My dad had driven pass this joint several times, so I roughly have an idea of its existent. Yet, even after I started working in this area, it never crossed my mine to lunch here. Until one day, while we were hunting for the location of Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh via Google maps, we saw the street view capture of this shop. So we made our way down one fine day, and it made its way into our regular lunch places list.

Everyone loves chicken rice right? Fragrant steamed 'kampong' chicken - the supposed free-range chickens one will imagine to be running freely in a kampong. Of course, these days in Singapore, the term is no longer as imagined. It's simply the same breed of chicken, but most likely kept in cages. Still, it's smaller than the usual fat chickens, and slightly more lean. J insisted that the yellow skin is a trademark of real kampong chicken. I think it's simply a generous use of either yellow ginger or yellow coloring in the cooking process. I don't remember the kampong chicken my mum bought from the market looking so yellow.

Back to their food. Their chicken are done just right. Cooked through, but still tender. The gelatinous jelly-like substance under the skin, I still can't make out what it is. Coagulated chicken fats or artificially added gelatin? Will love it if someone can give me an answer. Their rice is fragrant and flavorful, and goes so well with their yummy chilli. Their soup is a cabbage soup, as opposed to the usual MSG soup. And we love their sambal sweet potato leaves.

This joint is apparently quite popular with the tourists, who come in by the bus loads. Don't expect top notch service though. The Chinese servers pretty much have a can't be bothered attitude.